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Yet another entry in the category of weird middle eastern foods you've never heard of, most people are unaware that the Manna mentioned in the bible is an actual food. My husband, for example, thought it was bread. Manna is in fact a resinous substance gathered along the Iraq-Iran border. Lest you think I am going batty, here is one of many links that talk about this stuff.

LUMPY, dirt-caked, leaf-encrusted, a raw block of Iraqi Kurdistan's much-prized gazo looks more like contraband than divine gift. But this rarest of sweet essences, made from a concentrate of honeydew, is the manna of the Bible and Koran - God's own food.

In these fallen times, though, gazo can no longer be harvested in the Sinai desert, where it was first showered from heaven as sustenance for the starving Israelites.

In fact, it only forms on the leaves and surface roots of young mountain oaks in the high ranges along the Iran-Iraq border, after spring rains.

I had it about fifteen years ago, when I was lucky enough to visit Iraq, and again recently, sent to me by some friends of the family. (I will try to get a picture.)

It is often imitated -- weirdly scented eggwhite nougats and little clumps that taste like circus peanuts. But the real deal is good stuff, and doesn't taste like anything else.

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From HERE[Moderator's note: Mushrooms From Heaven by Steve Kubby from "The Politics of Consciousness" at bluehoney.org]

There are a great many people who would never consider the use of visionary plants to be a spiritual experience. These people believe that spiritual experiences must come directly from God and that the use of visionary plants goes against the teachings of the Bible. Contrary to this notion, the Bible never explicitly prohibits the use of visionary plants or potions. What you will find however, is many curious references to a spiritual food sent down from heaven by God, called manna.

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There is a most wonderful self-published cookbook by Nawal Nasrallah entitled "Delights from the Garden of Eden, A cookbook and a history of the Iraqi cuisine." I purchased it last year via amazon.

An oversized paperback of more than 600 pages of history, recipes, photos, and everything you would ever want to know about their cuisine including a long description and recipe for mann al-sama (heavenly sent manna) .

“C’est dans les vieux pots, qu’on fait la bonne soupe!”, or ‘it is in old pots that good soup is made’.

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The paper says "Mosul sweets and pastries company." I assume my parents cut it from the box because they thought I wouldn't believe they'd gotten some. (Yes, those are pistachios embedded in there...)

The texture is a bit like nougat I guess but the flavor is hard to describe. I would put it sort of in the same flavor category as cardamom or mastic?

I was happy to find that article bacause it is one of the few mentions I've seen in the western press. Maybe with Iraq in the news there will be more western interest in the product, though I assume quantities are limited by nature.

As for a recipe, do they say how to get hold of the resin?

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Oh, so it is packed in cardboard boxes in flour usually, to avoid sticking. You eat it like you would eat regular sweets. They are popular at weddings in Iraq, though I have never been to an iraqi wedding.

I think I need to buy that book. I would also love to learn how to make masgouf, the great grilled fish dish.

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The paper says "Mosul sweets and pastries company." I assume my parents cut it from the box because they thought I wouldn't believe they'd gotten some. (Yes, those are pistachios embedded in there...)

The texture is a bit like nougat I guess but the flavor is hard to describe. I would put it sort of in the same flavor category as cardamom or mastic?

I was happy to find that article bacause it is one of the few mentions I've seen in the western press. Maybe with Iraq in the news there will be more western interest in the product, though I assume quantities are limited by nature.

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There are 6 pages devoted to masgouf. I think you should get the book.

Here is the first paragraph:

"Today mann al-sama (heavenly-sent manna) is an exclusively Iraqi candy the main ingredient of which is the manna, mentioned in the Bible and the Qu'ran, as God-sent food to the people of Israel during their wandering in Sinai Desert. We know from the Assyrian Herbal, a monograph on the Assyrian vegetable drugs, that oak-like trees growing in northern Mesopotamia, near Mosul and Suleimaniya of modern day, provided manna, which they made into a paste, ate for food and used for medicinal purposes. The allusions to manna in the Assyrian cuneform medicinal texts match the Bibilical references in exodus, chapter 16."

The next paragraph deals with tamarisk and oak like trees and is quite a bit longer in length.

The following paragraph deals with gathering techniques.

Finally there isa recipe explaining how to make the candy called natif, a nougat using 12 pounds of manna and 100 eggs, 3 pounds almonds and flour with detailed description on how to make it.

And then we get a modern recipe that you, too, can make without manna, but with sugar, corn syrup, egg whites, cardamon, butter and toasted unskinned almonds

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I have imitation manna too, it came in a fancy inlaid box but I told my folks I didn't think it was the real stuff, so they requested the next batch direct from the source. I didn't mean to put them through any trouble, but my dad tends to get excited when I express interest in my heritage

Chefzadi, you should be able to find descriptions of masgouf on the web -- actually there was a thread about iraqi food on eG a while back, where we discussed it. I will try to look for it a little later. Basically it is a fish dish, where the fish is dry-rubbed with spices, and then impaled on upright spikes in the path of a smoky fire. It is really, really good.

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A friend gave me a copy of this cookbook last year and I've been thoroughly enjoying it. It's huge, it's engagingly written, and it has as many stories as it does recipes. I'm glad to see it recommended, complete with links.

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As to "the truth" about mannah, following is a piece I wrote some years ago:

Of all the events described in the Bible, there are few that inspire more awe than the miracle of manna. The Sinai Dessert is an especially harsh environment, but for forty years as the Hebrews wandered through the dessert in search of the Promised Land, they had no problem in finding their daily food. Every morning, shortly after dawn, the Hebrews were graced with as much of this wafer-like delicacy as they could consume during the day. Delivered directly from the heavens, one had to do no more than gather his or her share, eat as much as they liked and then look forward to the next day's crop.

There is of course, another, somewhat more caustic view about manna. Even though the Old Testament and tradition concur that manna contained the ingredients of every delicious food and suited the taste of all who partook of it, some speculate that forty years of manna made for a fairly monotonous diet. So unhappy were the Israelites that at one point they actually complained to Moses that "...we have naught save this manna to look to". With neither a bowl of chicken soup or a good pate de foie gras in sight, life might have been fairly difficult.

While the fine flavor of manna remains unquestioned, many have devoted their thoughts to the issues of just what it was and from whence it came. Rashi and other Jewish commentators observe that while manna was not a true bread, it settled to the ground shortly after the first dew had fallen and then was covered again with a second coating of dew. In Exodus we learn that it was "white and sweet, looked like coriander seed but tasted like wafers made with honey". Later, in the Book of Numbers, we find that it could be "ground, pounded like meal, boiled and made into cakes". From other Biblical writings we also know that it had the appearance of bedellium (a gum resin similar to myrrh obtained from various trees) and then when cooked it had the taste of cake baked with oil.

Some etymologists suggest that the Israelites, puzzled over the mysterious substance, called it man, the name of a sweet with which they had become familiar when in Egypt. Even today this sticky, honey-like juice exudes in heavy drops in May and June from certain shrubs found in Sinai. In the Rashbam commentaries, however, it is noted that while this may account for the naming of the miraculous provender, it cannot account for the feeding of so many people, for man is found only in minuscule quantities.

Others suggest that the name simply reflects the confusion of the people who could not identify the substance and comes from ma-nah, a word combining a Hebrew root with an Egyptian stem and meaning "what is this?"

Since the 4th century, scholars and monks at Saint Catherine's monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai have held that manna originated from the secretions of the scale insects that made their homes on the tamarisk shrubs that are common to the Sinai. Modern scientists concur with this as a possibility and speculate that a massive swarm of Trabutina mannipara had invaded the Sinai during this time, thus allowing for large quantities of their secretions to be "harvested" each morning.

Although gathering manna was not a difficult task for the Israelites, modern men are sometimes confused by the fact that each member of the family was expected to harvest and consume an omer of manna each day. Those interested will be pleased to know that an omer is "the tenth part of an ephah". In more modern terms that comes to about 2 liters.

For better or worse, the original recipe for manna has been misplaced. To capture at least the basic flavors of manna, one might care to try the following pancakes.

Resift the flour together with the ground coriander. Place the flour in a bowl and in the center make a well. Into this pour 1/2 cup of boiling water and the oil. Mix into a dough and then knead on a well floured board until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions.

Roll out a portion of the dough into a 10 cm. circle and brush with the sesame oil. Roll a second portion and with this cover the first. Roll the combined circles to make a 15 cm. pancake sandwich. Continue the process until all of the dough has been used and 6 pancakes sandwiches are ready.

Heat a heavy skillet, without oil, and in this one at a time fry the sandwiched pancakes, turning once so that both sides are cooked. The skillet should be kept moving constantly to prevent the pancakes from sticking, and cooking should be done over a moderate flame.

When all of the pancakes have been cooked, separate the sandwiched pancakes. Spread one side of each pancake lightly with honey and fold each single pancake in half and then in half again. Serve at once or cover with a lightly dampened cloth and set aside to keep warm until ready to serve. Yields 12 pancakes.

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I was in Torino this year for the Slow Food Salone del Gusto - and yes, I visited the Manna lady - thanks for reminding me.

I have a photo - but can't post anymore photos on the gullet - so if someone can, let me email it to you so you can post it for us...

The lady who harvests this for a living seemed very sweet and caring - and extremely well informed about her product. At the same time though, she seemed sad that no one has much of an interest in the Manna.

It looks much more like those things that hang from the ceilings of caves (stalagmites maybe - forgot the word) with the drop of water at the end. The ones on demo at her booth were about one meter in length.

She said that it can be used as a sweetener for people who are unable to eat sugar - diabetics can enjoy this sweet natural product without worries - strange how there really isn't more of a market for this - maybe the big business artificial sweeteners have something to do with that...maybe not.